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Does living
in a (fairly) big city like Bratislava ever make you long for the countryside? Are you attracted to political activism as a
way to make a difference? Would you ever be tempted to live in a tree like
Miranda? Or give (part of your life) to
a cause?
Well, I believe it is important to protect nature. Nevertheless, I sometimes have a feeling that the activists go just too far or the chosen ways of protest are too ineffective. However, Miranda's life in a tree is one of the more fortunate choices of protest, as it does not directly harm anyone, however, still attracts attention of the media and shows some kind of courage or determination. Personally, I can not imagine myself being in a forest during a storm. Of course, logging companies are not happy about this situation, however, their equipment was not lost in process.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, this can not be said about the Sea Shepherd, which was also mentioned in the podcast. As far as I know, the fight of this organisation with Japanese whalers in Antarctica led to material damage and diplomatic incidents, what led to increased international pressure on Japan. However, internally, Japanese public could feel offended by these actions, what does not contribute to ending the Japanese whaling in Antarctica. There are also protests which are just too ineffective, such as the "Strikes for the climate". I believe that despite the attention these protests attracted, nobody really cared about them.
To sum this up, it is really hard to create a protest with little or no "collateral damage", however, Miranda's protest was one of the more fortunate ones.
From Anna:
DeleteI agree with @Adam that Miranda's way of protesting was the fortunate one, because, as he said, it grabbed a lot of people's attention. Protests, in general, are meant to be about showing an opinion, usually dissension. As you mentioned the "Strikes for climate", I understand that @Adam thinks there were and are ineffective, but I do not agree with that completely. They have been organized in 98 countries at more than 1000 places. Some people think that nothing has changed, but the participants support a wonderful idea- Every individual matter. They believe that when the majority of people unites, they will be strong enough to push for change. Right now, the best what general people can do is to show that they do care about nature and to emphasize the importance of sustainable lifestyle. Our generation is possibly the last one who can still "wake up" and save our planet from depletion.
This comment is from Anna:
ReplyDeleteLife in a city has always varied from the one in the countryside, but only recently, the difference started to be colossal in many means. Humans have a very strong connection to nature, and its absence has a lot of negative impacts on our health. It is not usually emphasized, but when it comes to the mater of mental health, it actually has a lot to do with nature. "I feel like it’s easy, when you live in the city, to question the meaning of life, “mentioned Earth activist Miranda Gibson in her interview (6:40). A lot of people experience similar exhaustion and often cannot find any proper solution. What they could do, is to visit nature once in a while. Citizens of big cities are commonly very busy and argue that their work or school takes up all their time. As an IB student, I can relate to that very much. I often struggle with the healthy boundary of maintaining my life healthy and handing in all my assignments on time.
In my opinion, a lot of people are too focused on their careers and measure their worthiness only according to their successfulness. I used to be one of these people as well, but now I realize that a title and the best-paid position at work might not be everything in life. To be truly “successful”, one should also spend some of the time outside, relaxing their mind and body. After all, we once used to live in wild nature.” But in the forest… Everything in the forest belongs, that’s how the ecology of it works. I think it makes me feel like I belong in the wild as well,” mentioned further Miranda Gibson (6:44). We should not forget where we came from!
This response is from Emma:
DeleteThank you for your comment Anna!
I very much agree with you on saying that spending too much time in a crowded city can make us feel exhausted. I often feel this way myself. When I am feeling particularly stressed, I take my dogs to the nearest forest and spend a few hours away in peace. A long walk in a forest, in my opinion, does not have the same effect as a walk in a city park. But as much as I like my walks in the forest, I would not like to live there the way Miranda did. I am not too much of a social person, but I still need human contact. I agree with her saying at 16:20, that living in a tree made her feel "isolated" and after we experience this isolation we can see how important "face-to-face conversation" is. But who knows, maybe someday we might resort to living in a tree as well.
@Anna, I have to admit that I am doing strange things as well.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do not believe that we more distant from the nature as our ancestors, because we are as hard working as they were. Nevertheless, the working conditions drastically improved. In stone age, as I imagine it, those people spent most of their time looking for something to eat. Today, we are doing more or less the same, although in an abstract form. They also risked their health for an economic gain - I assume hunting a mamooth was not the safest job to do. In comparison to this, sitting hours in the office seems like very healthy and safe job. Therefore, I think that the socio-economic development is improving the working conditions, and in the future, I hope we can expect a life almost everyone will enjoy.